Radicalisation: A failure of governance
THE highly condemnable act of killing a Sri Lankan national in Sialkot has shaken the entire Pakistani society.
The incident has baffled everyone in Pakistan and exposed the crassness of Pakistani society to international community, which was already sceptical and critical of growing radicalization and intolerance in Pakistan.
Today, Pakistani Government cannot dismiss the incident by saying that, it was a conspiracy hatched by some external force, since it is a failure of the Government.
Indeed, the incident took place on Pakistani soil and the killing was done overtly in broad day light through extreme brutality and in-front of a mob where no one dared to stop the happening.
The incident has challenged the writ of the state while questioning the system of governance in Pakistan.
The incident is a reminder to the Incumbent Government that, had justice been done to earlier cases of merciless killings and heatless radicalization dealt as per law, this incident would not have taken place.
The killers of tragic Sahiwal incident were set-free where parents were killed in front of their children and nothing happened, similarly the killers of Osama Satti have not been punished as yet, the incident took place in January 2021.
Indeed, both incidents were undertaken by police officials and there could be so many excuses with them for these merciless killings. Besides there are thousands of incidents took place in last few years where neither state nor the judicial system acted as per the constitution.
It is worth mentioning that Pakistani emergence as an independent state was obliged by its ideological nature. Being the believers of Islamic ideology, the state of Pakistan and its subjects had to mirror the true reflections of Islamic teachings.
The very name of Islam means, peace, tolerance and love for entire humanity. In Islam killing anyone (including non-Muslims) is forbidden. In this regards, there is a clear directive of Allah Almighty.
It is stated in the Holy Quran that, “Whosoever killed a person … it shall be as if he had killed all mankind” (5:32). The killing of Sri Lankan national in Sialkot is a blatant violation of Islamic teachings, thus condemned in the Holy Quran and by the Last Prophet (PBUH).
The falsehood based disinformation spread over in the factory area and surroundings before the occurrence of this incident is yet another violation of the teachings of Islamic.
In this regard, Holy Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “It is enough falsehood for someone to speak of everything he hears.” This Hadith of the Last Prophet (PBUH) out-rightly rejects and condemns the disinformation and falsehood which attracted the huge mob at killing site and no one was able to save him from those merciless killers.
The abovementioned write-up absolutely clarifies the verdict of Islam through the verses of Holy Quran and sayings of the Last Prophet of Allah Almighty. Therefore, Islam rejects and condemns such acts of killings and disinformation.
This establishes the fact that, Islam, the believe system of Pakistani Muslims is not responsible for such acts of killings and mass disinformation (falsehood).
The next sequential questions is, why the Muslim believers of Pakistan, undertook such an extreme and inhuman act which caused shame and insult to the state and everyone in Pakistan.
Indeed, here comes the element of good governance which grooms the society in the light of ideological value system, the novelty of the nation, the level of maturity of the citizens, the soundness of the educational system, socio-economic factors, people’s believe in justice system and above all the role of national hierarchy for establishing and ensuring the writ of state.
Apart from the ruthless killers, the incident exposed the entire hierarchical system of the state, identifying serious flaws in the system of Governance in Pakistan.
There are many factors, responsible for the growing intolerance and radicalization of Pakistani society.
Nevertheless, the root-cause of all these wrong-doings has its foundation in the Governance system of Pakistan. It is the basic responsibility of the state and its governments (governance system) to address the causes which promotes the trends like intolerance and radicalization.
Have the successive governments and their system of governance identified and addressed the causes of such trends; the socio-economic factors, the moral flaws in the basic educational system, the discrimination based on political affiliations, the immoral system of police investigation and above all the melt-down state’s judicial system.
The UN has identified eight broad factors for ensuring, good governance. Establishing the writ of state through rule of law is graded as the first factor in this series of actions.
The element of transparency and being unbiased is the most significant factor for the good governance.
The other factors relevant to Pakistan are; equity, inclusiveness, responsiveness and efficiency.
All these factors are to be tested through a process of accountability, which seriously lacks in Pakistan as of to-date. Therefore, the bad governance can be blamed as the root-cause of all problems including the growing trends of radicalisation and intolerance in Pakistani society.
— The writer is Professor of Politics and IR at International Islamic University, Islamabad.
